Mike Woodson has one concern with Rasheed Wallace — getting the veteran big man ready for the playoffs. But that doesn’t make it any easier for Wallace to wait his turn to join the team.

Woodson reiterated more definitively Wednesday what he suggested Monday, that Wallace would practice with the Knicks after the All-Star break, adding that how he responds will determine if he can return as soon as Feb. 20 in Indiana. Wallace has sat out since Dec. 13 with an acute stress reaction in his left foot.

"I’m real anxious, to be honest," Wallace said. "Sometimes just sitting on the sideline or sitting in the back watching those guys, it’s killing me. It’s killing me because I feel like at certain points of the game, OK, I could have gotten that rebound or I would have been able to trap here or do something there.

"To be sidelined it’s like, OK, you’re preparing for war, I’m up here in practice, going through practice and game film and all of that. I’m preparing myself, but guys, I can’t get on the airplane and go to war with you. But there’s nothing I can do. I just got to let this foot do what it does."

Wallace sat out two seasons before returning to the NBA when Woodson and the Knicks came calling. Now, he knows Woodson is right and the postseason is the most important part of his comeback. But that doesn’t make it easy.

"For the most part I have to say that to myself a lot to be patient," Wallace said. "After All-Star it’s going to be all downhill from there. There won’t be that many games left. So we won’t have a lot of prep time. I know then I’ll have to speed my rehab up to get out there on the floor with them."